


Beyond Loyalty

by Goldentx02



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Monsters, Mutual Pining, Original Character(s), Sarcasm, Swords & Sorcery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-03-05 17:18:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18833191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldentx02/pseuds/Goldentx02
Summary: Jack's a prince, Gabriel is stressed, monsters and magic are the order of the day. Tossed in the middle of a grab for a crown in a world of nobles and royal egos, where these two will end up in anyone's guess. But hey, at least they have each other, just not in the way either really want.





	1. The Hammer and the Anvil

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first ever piece of fan ficiton! although calling it that is kind of a stretch as its more an excuse to string together the instances of my regularly scheduled day dreaming, slapping a paper thin plot over top, and calling it a story. But I'm excited none the less! I haven't written for fun since sometime in the middle of high school (weird, school taking something you love and making you dread it? unheard of!). So I'm using this as an exercise large in part to get back into writing and to practice and develop my own style of writing as a whole.
> 
> On with the show!
> 
> Beta'd by the best person I know [HailcorePhoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HailcorePhoenix/pseuds/HailcorePhoenix)
> 
> (Rating, Tags, and warnings will be updated as the story progresses)

“No.” Jack delivered deadpan, pushing the basket across the counter to Marie’s out stretched waiting hands. Smiling politely as she pushed out her bottom lip in a mock pout.

“But you didn’t even let me finish, darlin’” she protested, taking the basket of fresh eggs and placing them on the counter behind her for later use. The light from the morning sun shining softly through the bakeries windows, casting a glow around her blond ringlets and plum shaped face. Soft, full lips and clear green eyes that always seemed to shine with the promise of a kind word.

The bakery itself was small, most of the inside of the store taken up by the large glass display case showing off confectioneries of all kinds. Sugar topped cakes, fruit filled pastries, fresh breads and more. Littered between the counter and the door were a handful of chairs and tables, wood paneled flooring and shuttered windows open to the illuminating daylight. Jack wasn’t much of a baker but from what he’d glimpsed of the back of the store he noted a bright, tidy, and lovingly kept kitchen.

“That’s because you ask me to stay for dinner the same way each time I drop off your delivery. At least change it up once in a while” Jack teased, pocketing the pouch with his payment that Marie lobbed at him. “And besides, you know I have other stops. Yours is just the most important” he followed up with, shooting the baker a wink and noting the blush creeping up her cheeks. Feeling only slightly ashamed of the favoritism his flirting garnered him.

“Oh you and I both know you just make sure I have my delivery so I bake those jelly tarts Gabriel likes so much, lest he mope around like an insufferable grump” she shot back with a roll of her eyes before settling with a small fond smile, switching tracks. “You know, you two could move closer to the village, it must get mighty lonely all the way there at the edge of the forest. There’s plenty of land nearby to raise a new farm.”

“Nah, its not so bad. Old Zoll liked it out there and me and Gabe like being close to the woods. It’s a comfort thing, ya’ know?” Jack replied, knowing full well how lame his excuse was; the village itself was also close to the forest. His thoughts turning to his and Gabriel’s small farm cottage secluded away from the rest of the village; one of the few things their late caretaker left for them. It wasn’t much, but it was home. It was theirs.

“But I’ll be seeing you Marie, take care now”

“You too Jack, say hello to Gabe for me” she called with a wave. Her smile falling just a little as she watched Jack leave without a glance back.

With that Jack stepped out of the small bakery and back into the town square of Rhuldt Village. A small hamlet of only a few hundred common folk nestled far to the southwest of the capital city, right up against the Sapphire Woods that separated the village from the foot of the Klemik mountain range. The Village was home to a bakery, a smithy, multiple shops selling textiles, a tanner and more of the like, It also touted two separate inns that also served as diners to the locals and a single paved road that lead in and out of the village, cutting right though the town square. The majority of the village was made up of surrounding farmland that was much the same as you would find in any other outskirt village.

The chime of the blacksmiths shop bell sounded with a crisp twinkling as Jack strode in, after a brisk walk from the bakery on the other side of the village. Shrugging off his jacket he swapped it with his smock hanging nearby. He started to head towards the back smithy before stopping, noticing a package wrapped in thick brown paper and twine laying on the front counter.

“Jack? Is that you?” came the booming voice of the towns mostly deaf blacksmith, Bernard.

“Yeah! Where do ya want me?” Jack called back almost as loud.

“Fetch a barrel of brine, we’ve got an order of hinges and nails we hafta’ ship out by days end. Oh and ‘fore I forget, that package you ordered came in earlier this morning, it’s on the counter there in the front.” Bernard called, poking his large bearded face through the doorway and nodding to the parcel in question.

“Great, Thanks for letting me have it delivered here, would have felt bad making the runner come all the way out to my place.” Jack thanked the blacksmith sheepishly.

Bernard, rolling his one good eye, strode through the doorway fully now, almost having to duck to get his tall and overly thick frame through the door way. “Don’t act like you having it delivered here was to save some runner leg work. We both know you just didn’t want Gabriel to get his hands on it ‘fore you did” The blacksmith mock scolded, his hands resting on his hips.

Jack just shrugged his shoulder with a smirk before slipping past the smith, “C’mon, isn’t there work to be done? I heard something about nails and hinges that are in desperate need of my attention?”

Jacks and Gabriel’s livelihood came primarily from their small farm, growing what they needed for themselves and selling off the rest. After harvest season when the weather turned bitter, they took odd jobs throughout the village to keep coin coming in and food on the table. Or rather, Jack took odd jobs in town while Gabe hunted the sapphire wood. Preferring the solace of the woods rather than the more social interactions of the town proper day in and day out. Keeping what meat they could from the hunts and selling the skins and leftover meat to the tanners and inns respectively.

Of all the odd jobs Jack had taken throughout his years, working the smithy was his least favorite. He hated the way the soot and grime creeped in everywhere and how it made getting clean feel impossible. But Bernard paid good coin and Jack wasn’t one for complaining, out loud at the very least. So here he was, hammering out shoddy, but passable nails under the watchful eyes of the smith proper. Bernard tasked Jack with the smaller and more simple things to free up time so he himself could dedicate more to the larger projects.

The front of the smith’s shop as well as its warehouse were an unorganized mess with no rhyme or reason to their setup. The smith proper, however, was another story. Much like Marie and her kitchen, Bernard kept his smithy organized down to the scrap metal bin, and as clean and kept as a smithy could ever really be. The Village of Rhuldt wasn’t much, but It was full of kind people passionate about their individual crafts and, as a rule of thumb, willing to lend a hand to the others when times were hard.

Hours later, after making sure to drop off the wrapped package of finished nails and carriage hinges in Bernard’s delivery box, Jack yelled his farewells and slipped out of the shop before the beefy man could put him back to work. By the time Jack fled the warmth of the smithy the air outside had taken on a sharp bite to it.  Jack rolled his eyes and contemplated his inevitable headache at the hands of his partners insistent belly-aching that he adopted whenever the weather turned. Grinning to himself, the neatly wrapped package carefully clutched safely under his arm, Jack swung by the bakery one last time before sprinting home, the sun still giving a few hours of precious sunlight more.

Excitement welling in his chest, he had to force himself not to dip into his reservoir of Mana to speed up his travel home, deciding the mundane burn he’d get from the exercise would help him keep a clear head as he made his way home. “Not every situation requires the use of Aura, Jack. Use it only when you need to, or you’ll become inept without” came the resounding echo of Zoll’s past instruction as Jack bounded down the dirt road towards home.

The normal half-league trip from the village itself felt like it stretched on forever in Jack’s rush to get home to his and Gabes small farmstead. Its front door opening to their small kitchen and dining room, the adjacent living room, its two small bedrooms and wash room connected via a small hallway leading off from the living room. The size of the house meant the warmth of the hearth was usually enough to keep the majority of the abode warm enough.

Gabriel was home before Jack, his worn and aggressively patched boots littering the kitchen doorway evidence enough.

“Jack? You home already? Man you must have done a shit job at Bernard’s to have gotten out of there so soon” came Gabriel’s deep chuckle from the room over. The smell of freshly salted meat and cleaned and wrapped animal hide hanging in the air. Mixing with the sultry aroma of cooking stew and spices that tickled Jack’s nose with the promise of dinner.

“Wow, way to greet a guy who busted his ass at work all day AND brought you home a present” Jack shot back, slipping off his jacket and boots, letting them fall next to Gabe’s in a haphazard heap that, had Zoll still been around, would have earned them both a cuff on the back of the head. Smiling at the memory of his late caretaker, Jack strolled into the living room as Gabe jumped into view, his soft brown eyes alight with the promise of baked goods, lips pulled into a wide smile.

“Aw, Jackie, you shouldn’t have”

“Good because I lied, I ate all the jelly tarts on the way home” and obvious lie made apparent by the still very much still full wrapped basket of confectioneries he held with no attempt at concealing it.

Pouting, Gabe slumped his larger frame over Jacks shoulders attempting to reach around Jack for the basket of sweets. “Jackie don’t tease me like that, I’m an old man now, I don’t have much longer to eat Marie’s delicious deserts”

“Gabe you’re only twenty-seven, that’s only three years old than me you jackass” Jack laughed trying to dislodge a squirming Gabe who was somehow wrapped around him in such a way that prevented either from moving with any semblance of grace. Jack let out a yelp as Gabe swatted his rear, managing to lose the basket of sweets to a cackling Gabriel who had taken advantage of Jacks lowered guard and while also simultaneously dropping the package he had clutched under his other arm.

“Ha! Get it? Jack ass?” Gabe roared out in laughter behind a mouthful of tart, flopping back down into his chair after ducking out of Jacks reach and looking far too pleased with himself at his shitty pun to take notice of the creeping blush peeking out from under Jack’s collar.

“So, you finally take Marie up on that dinner date?” Gabe asked wagging his eyebrows. “You two’d make some adorable blond-haired blue or green-eyed brats” teased Gabe as Jack knelt to check on the package.

“Nah, told her you’d get lonely without me Mr. Old Man” came Jacks reply, deciding the package had survived the fall before dumping it on Gabriel’s lap. “Happy birthday by the way.” Jack said scratching the back of his neck before dropping into the chair next to Gabriel and watching out of the corner of his eye as the older man brushed his hands off on his trousers, before slipping his fingers into the seam of the package to work it open. Definitely _not_ taking note of how the hearth light bounced off his deep bronze skin that made him look like copper given life. And definitely _not_ watching those rich brown eyes light up and the skin crinkle around his eyes in a surprised smile as he finally unearthed the new pair of boots hidden in the depths of the package. And he was _definitely_ ignoring the swopping in his stomach as Gabe turned that beaming smile towards him in thanks.

“Jackie you shouldn’t have. Did we have that much left over from the last hunt?” thankful warmth lining his tone.

“We had enough” Jack said with a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders. Even though they both knew they _didn’t_ have enough disposable coin the spend on boots of the quality Gabe was currently holding clutched in his lap. “ ’Sides, got tired of you complaining about your feet hurting and trying to guilt me into giving you foot massages” he said, scrunching up his face and sticking out his tongue in disgust.

Grabbing a few bowls form the kitchen, Jack spooned them both some dinner and tore off some not-quite-stale-yet bread while Gabe slipped on his new boots and laced them up with an appreciative grunt, admiring the way they looked and felt. The two fell into easy conversation, talking about nothing, grousing about the turning weather, taking easy jabs at each other before lapsing into equally easy silence. Their now empty dinnerware sitting next to them, they both stared into the fire of the hearth as the sun started to sink into the horizon casting a purplish glow over the fields.

“So, you want to…?” Gabe trailed off, nodding his chin towards the front door.

Jumping up, Jack strode over and pulled on his own boots followed closely by Gabriel. “Thought you’d be too tired, what with you being an old man now.” Jack replied, earning him an elbow to the ribs. Both leaving their jackets where they still laid in a heap by the doorway. Biting air or not, soon enough they’d both be to warm and the outer layers would have been discarded anyways.

“Never to tired to kick your ass Jackie boy. Plus, we’ve got work to do tonight anyways. Might as well get warmed up” Gabe said, waving off Jack’s questioning glance as they strode past their acre of worked-over farmland, past the barn and chicken coop and into a well-worn patch of land, about half the size of a horse track.

Standing a few dozen feet away from one another, both faced the other in the silent evening, the setting sun casting a its last rays of warmth over their sparing pitch. Reaching for that ever familiar, always present, thread of power that connected him to his weapon, Jack threw out his right hand as shards of ethereal energy coalesced to take the form of his familiar hand and half sword, the tinkling sound of glass accompanying the forming of his weapon a familiar comfort to his ears. Jack took a moment, appreciating the way the broad winged hilt caught the remaining rays of sunlight and how it seemed to awaken with intent. Watched as the lethal double-edged blade caught his reflection. Jack suppressed his shiver of anticipation, instead funneling Mana into his Aura and wrapping it around his spine and down through his legs, knees and shins before releasing and having it travel back up through his spine and into his shoulders and down through his arms; like flexing a muscle in preparation for the days labor.

It was a comfort that he knew few people could feel. The power of Mana linked to Aura, and that charged Aura to the body. From Zoll’s teaching, Jack knew that the linking of Mana and Aura was a rare ability that few possessed. Unlike channeling Mana through words, somatic hand gestures and signs, or even through the mixing of herbs and ingredients to cast spells and brew potions, the channeling of Mana into Aura was an innate skill that couldn’t be obtained through study or practice. One was simply born with it or without. Like Mana, everyone had Aura, it was a force denoting life in all living creatures. It surrounded and permeated all aspects of the living. Jack knew you didn’t just get stronger and faster when manipulating Aura, but by using Mana to manipulate Aura, you were in turn reinforcing your natural faculties to an almost superhuman degree and enhancing the sensory nerves which also transitioned into the bolstering of reaction times.

Reaching into his trouser pocket, Jack pulled out a small and regular-looking smooth stone, rubbing his thumb over the circular sigil inscribed with blocky runes set into the stone’s center. Taking the stone, he placed it against the hilt of his blade and watched as it was covered with a thin shielding, effectively rendering the weapon blunt. It wouldn’t cut, but it would still hurt like hell to get hit with by someone who was reinforcing their arms with Aura.

Taking up his stance, feet spaced apart, body anchored, sword arm raised with the flat of the blade a hands length from the right of his face, tip towards target and left arm outstretched, he watched as Gabe collected the shadows around him. Watched as they swept down his thick arms forming two broad bladed, jagged curved scimitars. Jack admired how the shadows clung to him as he commanded his own flow of Aura.

Rare was the individual who could channel their Mana through their Aura. But rarer still where those who could do it and still command the forces of natural magic like Gabriel was doing. It wasn’t that people who could channel their Aura couldn’t perform feats of magic; it was just infinitely harder to do so. The same was not true for Gabriel. While growing up under the care and instruction of Zoll, both boys received instruction on Aura manipulation and swordplay. But Gabe got the extra lessons. Learning how to control the ebb and flow of magic and channeling it into a structured force, to an even higher degree than what he already knew when Zoll took him in when Jack was but thirteen. Gabe’s command of Aura _and_ Magic was a fact that Jack was not so secretly jealous of.

Jack, who never having manifested a talent with a school of magic, funneled all his effort into managing his Aura to an even greater degree.

To an ordinary onlooker Gabriel would look to be a demon wearing the flesh of a man. Inspiring raw fear as his obedient shadows coiled around him like spikes rearing up from a hell contained just below the ground. His weapons, two large thick bladed black twin scimitars with serrated middles and spikes jutting from the pommels’, looking to have been torn from the armory of the Daemon King himself.  But Jack didn’t see any of that. Only the man standing opposite of him. The same one who was crushed when their dog passed years prior. The one who would risk life and limb for another and then turn around and swear up and down that he didn’t when accused. The one who, thinking Jack never noticed, always made sure he got the larger portion when their food was limited. Who always left just a few of Marie’s sweets for Jack and claimed that they were _just his fair share_. This was the _real_ Gabriel that only Jack got to see.

Jack refocused on their sparring match, watching as Gabriel attached his own Lind stones to the hilt of his blades and took his own stance.

Jack was no fool. He knew what he felt for his closest friend, but he would be damned if he let it get in the way of and ruin what they had. No. He would keep that to himself.

Sparring. This was so much easier than emotions. This was something Jack could do. If Jack couldn’t love, then he would fight. And he was pretty damn good at it if he said so himself.

 

 

Gabriel couldn’t help but appreciate the way Jacks tunic clutched his broad frame. How the setting sun cast a golden halo around his features as this blond-haired angel took its stance, ready to clash, looking like a holy avenger on the cusp of taking flight. Taking note of how his freckles stretched across the center of his face across his nose. Mentally cursing Marie and her advances, knowing that one day soon Jack would be far too nice to reject her offer anymore.

With a self-depreciating chuckle, Gabe pushed those thoughts aside as he stood, straight backed, knees bent, already calling his shadows to him, relishing in the rush of power that coursed through him whenever he wielded them. Letting the euphoria that accompanied the wielding of Aura wash over him, feeling it wash away his emotional stress.

“Three” he rumbled, matching Jacks cocky grin with his own. Watching how his opponents eyes changed from clear sky blue that reflected the boundless sky, to a charged electric current neon that herald a warrior’s coming. Feeling how the air surrounding the two became charged with the Mana they were pumping out in waves.

“Two.” Came Jack’s reply. Gabe tightened his grip around his scimitars and dug his feet into the earth, muscles tense with anticipation.

“One.” They finished unison, both launching towards the other at inhuman speed. The clang of their weapons filling the air along side their cries of battle. Jack parrying a blow before replying in kind to Gabriel’s advances. Gabriel feinting with all the grace of water and Jack dancing around, seemingly knowing where Gabriel would be even before Gabe himself knew. Where Jack had his greater control over Aura, Gabriel had his shadows to retreat into and spring from. Both keeping the other on their toes. Both lost in their battle trance, ignoring everything else but each other. Acting and reacting in perfect unison. Their blades like shooting stars against the backdrop of night and the clash of their metal a sirens song of battle.

Their fight was dichotomy of clashing styles. Gabriel gliding everywhere, switching between a shadow clad wraith form and back to a corporeal one, a blizzard of glinting metal and shadows given life. Only tangible when striking. Letting his adrenaline seep through his entire self, completely losing himself in his and Jack’s skirmish.

Meanwhile Jack, stuck to a corporeal form, did a seemingly perfect rendition of maelstrom bound to a human body. Dancing around their mock battle field with the grace someone of endowed with much less muscle mass than he had. His broad well-muscled frame dancing through and with Gabe’s shadows, meeting each of his opponents strikes with a parry of his own, almost knowing exactly where and when his opponent would strike. Digging in and lashing out with quick precise strikes of his own whenever a lapse in Gabriel’s guard was made apparent.

Their dance was easy, practiced. Sung into their very bones after so many years.

The matched lasted far longer than any other human not wielding Aura could go for. It took almost an hour before signs of strain started showing. Sweat dotting their brows, a few mistimed dodges that led to clean strikes from the other that would result in large bruises that would be healed by the following night, leaving no blemished skin behind.

They continued well into the evening.

Long after the sun and given its last rays of warmth, the two sat back to back, panting in their shared exhaustion. The cool air drying their sweat-coated bodies as they caught their breath, their weapons sticking out of the ground around them.

“My point this time” Gabe said, between gulps of water, some of the liquid cascading down his chin carelessly.

“Only because my body was so stiff after hammering out nails all damn day.” Jack scoffed, taking the canteen Gabe handed to him over their shoulders. “Couldn’t get my Aura to react in time.” He mumbled lamely.

“Excuses, excuses, Jack, what would Ol’ Zoll say?”

“Probably ‘stop over extending your elbows Gabriel! And Jack, stop with the flashy footwork, what are you doing? Dancing the Seraphina Ballet? You look like a duck whose feet are aflame!’” Jack recited, lowering his voice and giving It a grumbly and aged cadence in his best mock impression of their late caretaker. Drawing out Gabriel’s deep, rumbling laugh

“Yeah, probably something like that.”

They lapsed back into a comfortable to silence that was broken only by the nighttime ambiance.

“So, you gonna tell me what you meant when you said we had work tonight? It’s not another daemon already is it?” asked Jack. Setting the empty canteen next them, hand brushing Gabriel’s resting arm in the process.

Gabriel took a moment to just enjoy the closeness of Jack before deciding to answer. “Well what else would it be? Nothing else exciting happens around here. But yeah, I found its tracks earlier this morning, I figured all the Mana we let out sparring would have drawn it out by now, unless it wandered further west into the mountains.” Gabe said, going to stand up, but then deciding against leaving the human heater that was Jack. “From what I could tell, it was a mammoth of one too. Probably going to take us both to take it out.”

This was the real reason they refused to move closer to the village. The stretch of forest closest to their home was, for some reason unknown to them, a daemon hot spot. When they were younger, Zoll told them it was a perfect place for them to train their Aura and learn how to survive against a world that wanted them to do anything but. Staying just close enough to civilization to acquire what they couldn’t grow themselves.

Jack gave him a noncommittal hum in response. Looking over his shoulder, Gabe watched as Jack reached out towards his discarded blade that rested sticking out of the earth a few feet away and, with a flex of his hand, watched as the blade broke apart into shards of glass like incandescence that faded back into his partners ethereal armory. The tinkling sound and the gashes it made in the ground the only evidence it even existed in the first place. Gabriel’s dual scimitars already tucked away in his shadows.

“You decide on a name for it yet?” He asked as he stood, finally deciding that the chilly night air was now unbearable before reaching down to grasp Jacks offered hand and hoisting him up.

Jack was quite for a moment as they walked back towards their small farm house.

“Not yet, no. Nothing I come up with seems to fit”

“Look man, I already told you, ‘Hell Reaver’ is still on the table” Gabe said with a smirk, earning him an eyeroll in response.

“Gabe that’s what you named _your_ swords.”

“Yeah, and it’s a _good_ name!” Gabriel defended.

“Hey man, whatever you say. It _does_ match the whole dark and broody aesthetic you’re going for” Jack teased as he kicked off his boots, watching as Gabriel took care to actually un lace his own before toeing them off and setting them off to the side almost reverently.

“Hey, my whole ‘dark and broody’ aesthetic is part of our dynamic. You’re the bright and helpful sunshine boy and I’m-“

“Gabriel.” Jack interrupted.

“You’re Gabriel” Jack continued. An emotion Gabe couldn’t quite make out etched just behind his eyes. Something close to resolve.

“Sure thing Sunshine. C’mon, lets get washed up, I’m ready to hit the sack” Gabriel said, a small smile tugging at his lips as he knocked shoulders with Jack, exhaustion finally setting in where adrenaline once stood. He knew full well that Jack had no tolerance for his self-deprecating tendencies but couldn’t help but enjoy the warm ache in his chest whenever Jack jumped to defend him, even from himself.

The two made quick work of washing in their tiny bathroom, the chore hurried along by the frigid water they only had to complete the task with. After obtaining some semblance of cleanliness and dressing down, they each fell into their small beds that sat on opposite walls of their equally small bedroom.

Jack falling right atop his blanket while he fussed and grumbled while trying to get situated under his handful of thick blankets. After a while, they laid there facing each other in silence, neither trying to think of the small now unoccupied room that sat adjacent to theirs. The one they both refused to move into. Out of desire to stay close or out of remembrance for their not-so-recent loss, neither could say. It wasn’t like either of them needed more space anyways, both only keeping a handful of possessions to begin with.

Eventually Jack fell asleep and Gabriel watched the rise and fall of his chest, the pale moonlight shining from the window casting a beam that cut across Jacks resting features. Gabe lingered on the urge to crawl into bed next to him, let the promise of his warmth tempt him for just a little longer, dwelled on desire to hold and be held by the man sleeping not five feet from him. He lingered on those thoughts and feeling just until he felt his body start to shift from laying down to sitting up with the intent to act on them, before huffing out a sigh and flopping over onto his other side, content with his self-inflicted torment.

Instead, he turned his thoughts to his and Jack’s sparring match, and the feeling that all throughout they were being watched. He kept the feeling to himself, trusting that if they were actually being observed that Jack would have noticed something as well. Still, the paranoia put him on edge. That coupled with the tracks, the very _human_ tracks, he also found in the woods earlier this afternoon made him uneasy. The tracks themselves weren’t odd alone, it was how they were spaced out. like whomever had left them was moving fast. _Fast_ like him and Jack could move, and he didn’t what to think of what that could mean.

Either way, he didn’t think he was going to be in for a very restful night. But eventually let Jack’s soft snoring lull him asleep, nonetheless.

 

 


	2. While the World Sleeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback Chapter, with a twist!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want a character trait about me? I'm really bad at following schedules! So I've decided right out the gate that this fic wont have a strict update schedule. Trying to adhere to a deadline just sounds stressful and honestly, was the biggest factor in me straying away from writing in school. But with that being said, I am aiming to put out at least a chapter a month with the potential for more because this story is dear to me and I desperately want to see it through to completion.
> 
> Ideally I'm aiming to always have the chapter ahead finished before I post a new one (I.E at the time I'm posting Chapter 2, Chapter 3 is already finished) as a way to give me a buffer if I ever should loose the urge to write for an extended period of time> Then i'll at least have something in the bank to post and give me some breathing room in terms of creative energy.
> 
> Beta'd by [HailcorePhoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HailcorePhoenix/pseuds/HailcorePhoenix)
> 
> But anyways! on with the show!

Chapter 2: While the World Sleeps

 

Jack watched as a young boy with golden blond hair and clear blue eyes clutched the support beam of the front porch. Eyes locked on the road, his white-knuckle grip unrelenting. The boy’s eyes clouded with unease as he stared off towards the sun that was just starting its decent below the horizon and more specifically, the two figures with their backs to it who were making their way down the only road to the house and the boy. The wood creaked as he shifted his weight from foot the foot nervously.

Eventually the figures came to stand just in front of the boy. One of them far older with dark skin and a full beard of gray hair along with a litany of scars pockmarking his face. The other, another young boy with dark coppery skin not unlike the older mans, dark unkept curly hair atop his head and soft brown eyes locked into a perpetual scowl. Neither sparing Jack a glance where he stood leaning against the railing of the porch not far from where the trio stood.

“Jack, this is Gabriel. He’ll be staying with us from now on.” The older man said, his voice deep and brassy, with the cadence of someone who was used to giving orders.

The blond boy, after a few moments of hesitation. seemed to gather himself and lightly strode down the porch’s steps, his back straight and gait solid, the walk of someone already having undergone a respectable amount of training. Coming to a stop in front of the other young boy and extending his hand, “I’m Jack,” his voice only quivering slightly as he made the introduction.

Without missing a beat, the young Gabriel walked right past the young Jack, knocking his shoulder against his none too gently. Stomping right up the porch and into the house as if he owned the place without a second glance back.

The older man let out a heavy sigh, reaching out the pat the young Jacks head. “Don’t worry about it Jack, it was a long trip back and he’s probably just tired. Come, sit with me.” Jack watched as Zoll, clad in a worn traveling cloak, simple trousers, led his younger self to the steps of the porch, before taking a seat next to one another. Watched as his younger self nervously picked at a hole in the rotted wood of the steps that were in desperate need of repair.

When Jack dreamed, this was how it always started, some defining moment of his childhood followed by either more memories, or nightmares. Rare was the night he got a dreamless nights rest, or let alone a pleasant dream. This dream-memory, was his and Gabe’s first meeting. The memory wasn’t a very pleasant one. Jack vividly remembered the conversation his younger self and Zoll were currently having.

It was where Zoll explained to Jack for the first time that they weren’t related, and that he was Jacks god father, his guardian, and that the boy that just stormed into his life and home was Zoll’s biological son. Jack recalled how his younger self was currently feeling as the smaller him’s eyes started to shine with tears that even at the tender age of thirteen he refused to let fall.

He knew Zoll wasn’t his father but didn’t dwell on it, it didn’t change the way things where. However, it was vastly different for it to be acknowledged aloud. Jack remembered the pit of dread that opened in his stomach. If Gabriel was his real son what did that mean for him? Did he no longer have a place here? Was he to leave? Where would he go?

Jack smiled fondly as Zoll reached out and pulled his younger self into his side, letting him burry his face into the shoulder of his traveling cloak, unworried about the tear stains his younger self was making. “Don’t worry Jack, nothings going to change around here. Just think about it, the farm will be much easier to manage with another set of hands.” That simple reassurance, Zoll’s light easy tone that promised security, managed to assuage the young Jacks fear of replacement, for the moment at least.

“He doesn’t seem to like me very much…” younger Jack mumbled after calming down and pulling his face from Zoll’s shoulder.

The older man gave a small chuckle, eyes crinkling around the edges as he smiled.

“You’ll find that Gabriel doesn’t like much in the way of anything right now. Why, when I was his age, I was much the same. But give it time, he’ll get tired of the tough guy act. Give him a little space and he’ll come around.”

“Whys he coming to stay with us now?” the young Jack asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Its… complicated.”  Zoll paused there, chewing on his words, “Up until now he was living with his mother very far away. Due to some recent events, he has to stay with me now.” Zoll replied, solemnity lining his voice.

Jack watched his dream self and Zoll talk for awhile longer, his attention wavering, having seen this scene play out a handful of times already. He knew the two would fall into conversation about where Zoll had went to fetch Gabriel, what he did, and who he met. He also knew, having experienced this same conversation firsthand that he would be answered with vague and frustrating answers that would do little more than raise new questions. It would be easier to take stock of every single pine needle in the forest than it would be getting a straight answer out of the old man.

Instead, Jack busied himself taking stock of his surroundings. Noting how the edges of the area would taper off in a fuzzy cloud wherever his subconscious deemed unnecessary to the memory. The way his lucid dreams felt made Jack uncomfortable. How he only noticed the solidness of the ground when he was thinking about it, or how the air felt stagnant just until it made him uncomfortable, how the sun gave no warmth and cast no shadows.

Eventually, the dream faded into a gentle swirl of color as another memory took its place.

This time Jack stood at the edge of the sparring pitch as he watched his and Gabe’s younger selves argue about something that Jack couldn’t remember, a few months having passed since the previous memory. Although he didn’t remember that what they argued about, whatever Gabriel had said had apparently pissed him off enough because next thing Jack knew he was watching his younger self deck Gabriel across the cheek. Jack rubbed his knuckles; remembering how his fist had stung just after. He watched his younger self look from Gabriel to his still clenched fist, as if shocked that he had _actually_ done that. To his credit, Gabriel also looked taken aback, although it didn’t last long because next thing his face shifted from surprised to _royaly_ pissed off, and was then promptly tackling the younger Jack, both falling to the ground in a fit shouts and flailing fists and elbows.

The dream shifted again, the greens of the surrounding fields swirling and darkening, taking on an earthy brown tone as it eventually settled on the familiar inside of their home. The younger Jack and Gabriel now sat next to each other at the dining room table. Here Jack watched his younger self clutch a rag to his bloody nose, while Gabriel nursed a split lip. Both boys sporting a black eye on opposite sides in addition to a fair collection of other bumps, bruises, and scratches from their fight moments prior. Jack grinned to himself as he watched Zoll pace back and forth on the opposite site of the table chewing them both out. Both looking righty chastised and resolutely looking anywhere but each other.

The dream faded in and out, blending together while showing Jack his memories. Him and Gabe sparring and training under Zoll’s watchful eye, The three of them laboring on the farm, time spent in the village, Gabriel flirting with Maria who only had eyes for Jack even then. Each memory fading into the next with the same ephemeral edge blurring the lines between them that left Jack lousy with nostalgia.

Eventually, the roulette of dreams shifted to an evening Jack remembered vividly, if not overly fondly.

The dreamscape, having now taken on the dusky hue of evening, was currently showing one of Gabriel and Zoll’s more aggressive verbal fights. A not all together uncommon sight as the two where known for shooting off at the mouth at one other, both having radically opposing thoughts on even the most mundane topics. Jack watched his dream-self try to desperately tune the two of the out, trying and failing to focus on what ever book he had resolutely clutched in front of him, their hearth fire roaring merrily, indifferent to the shouting match.

Soon enough his dream-self got up and stomped out the front door, the dreamscape changing to reflect the scene that he witnessed at the time of the memory. Since at the time he was outside, that is all the dreamscape would show him. Anything, minus a few words here or there that escaped from the continued shouting filtering from inside, mostly lost to him. Jack watched his younger self take a seat on the porch, the book whose title had long ago been worn off laying abandoned next to him as he stared off towards the forest and its comforting azure foliage.

Judging from his dreams self’s growth and the changes to the surrounding scenery, Jack had guessed this was a year, maybe two since Gabriel had first arrived. Jack remembered how the two of them were still at odds with one another even after so much time had passed, although their mutual disdain for the each other having long since been muted to more of a begrudging rivalry.

Not long later the door to the front of the house banged open as Gabriel stomped out, muttering under his breath as went. Neither Jack nor his younger self stirring from where they were. Jack, because he witnessed this memory so frequently, and his dream-self because this was such a known routine that it eventually became a game of guessing how long it took before Gabriel stormed off alone to simmer.

Both Jacks watched Gabriel’s back as he stomped his way up to and into the Sapphire Woods. The forest having long since lost its foreboding air to them and having become a welcoming escape when needed.

Time passed and Jack waited. Although he knew exactly what came next in this particular memory, it did little to settle his nerves. The sun had set bellow the horizon not long after, causing younger jack to retreat back indoors and away from the light chill of evening. Here, Jack watched his younger self and Zoll sit idly around the hearth in comfortable silence, Zoll whittling a small wooden figurine and Jack once again hidden behind the same novel he was reading previously, eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

Both lost in their individual activity when they heard it.

A piercing chittering roar followed by panicked yelling in the distance. Jack remembered how the two sounds sent different chills down his spine, how Zoll’s widened eyes haunted him afterwards. Jack watched as the dream apparitions of Zoll and himself knock their chairs backwards as they jumped to their feet and darted from the house towards the sound, his dream-self grabbing his worn steel short sword that was resting by the door as they darted from the house.

The scene that greeted them was one that sent pin pricks of fear down Jacks spine even now whenever he thought about it. Gabriel running towards them clutching his arm, his shirt damp with blood and face pale with exertion. Behind him a Daemon that looked akin to a praying mantis, but over 10 feet tall with wretched black beady eyes, mandibles that dripped with green acid that scorched the earth where ever it fell. Its Inky black carapace racing after Gabriel on six hairy beast-like legs, and scythe-like arms that were both alight in flame, ready to rend its prey.

Jack remembered briefly thinking _‘This might not be so bad’_. The three of them had taken down daemons of similar size before, and they’d been injured before, whatever wounds Gabriel had suffered would heal, thanks primarily to their heightened recovery speeds due to their Aura.

Whatever optimism to the situation Jack had was promptly squashed as two more identical creatures burst from the tree line, already darting after Gabriel and the first daemon.

They couldn’t do this. Not _three_ Daemons at a time. Whenever they’d encountered groups of them they would lure one away at a time to deal with them. There was no way they could take on a small herd. Least of all with Gabriel wounded and out of the fight already, taking into account that the element of surprise was also lost to them.

Nonetheless, Jack watched his younger self tremble even as he sped towards the threat, just behind Zoll, eyes wide with fear.

At some point in the ensuing fight that began with Zoll darting past the first Mantic Daemon on legs imbued with Aura to waylay the two advancing Daemons, Jack switched from being a third-party spectator to watching the scene from behind the eyes of his younger self. All motor controls lost to him. Forced to observe, but denied the chance to participate.

The rush of adrenaline, the spikes of fear, the raw desperation he felt at the time coursing through him all over again as his younger self, no, as _he_ intercepted the Mantic that was baring down on Gabriel. He felt the reverberation in his hands as he parried the first swipe of the Daemons scythe, felt the scorching heat that hungered to consume him.

He felt clumsy and slow compared to his present-day body. Missing openings that would have, had Jack been as practiced as he was now, meant a quick end to the battle. But no, he was forced to experience how inept he’d been at the time again and again.

He was all that stood between the beast and Gabriel, wherever he was. Jacks throat was raw from his screams of battle as he struck, dodged, parried and did everything he could to hold back the attacker. At the time he never had to fight a Daemon of this caliber one on one before. He _couldn’t_ win, and he knew that the moment the Daemon struck him down, that Gabriel would be next.

The fact that Zoll hadn’t intervened yet meant that either he was still locked in combat with his two foes or likely already dead.

It wasn’t long before Jack was out maneuvered, too slow to react to the Daemons upwards swipe with the blunt back of its appendage, just barely catching it with the flat of his blade. The force from the strike knocking Jack clear off his feet and sending him careening backwards before colliding with another body.

After coming to a sliding halt and after taking stock his injuries, Jack looked up and locked eyes with Gabriel who looked just as surprised as he felt.

“What are you still doing here, you should have run!” Jack yelled, his voice coming out broken and hoarse.

“I...I couldn’t leave you both.” Gabriel mumbled in response. His own voice raspy with emotion and exhaustion, the blood loss he suffered apparent on his paling face.

Before Jack could follow up, the Mantic Daemon let loose its chittering roar and charged them. Jack untangled himself from Gabriel and went to stand, to raise his sword in defense before the horrifying realization that his steel short sword had been shattered in at the hilt dawned on him.

_‘Oh, we’re going to die’_

He thought, oddly calm with facing down his own mortality at the hands of a literal walking nightmare.

Jack felt Gabriel rest his hand on his own that was still clutching the broken sword. The two locked eyes again, Gabriel’s warm brown to Jacks sky blue, and something passed between them. The reassurance that the other wasn’t alone, that they wouldn’t be dying alone, that they did their best and that sometimes the world just wasn’t fair? Jack couldn’t tell.

It was then that he felt that now familiar always present tug of power, but at the time was a wholly new and alien sensation.

It was here that Jack would first reach out towards that string of power connecting him to his weapon. The only thing in the world that was his and his alone. With a flash of blinding radiant light, he was no longer holding the broken remnants of the steel sword, instead, in its place was a blindingly bright silver, hand and a half straight long sword with a curved winged hilt that would in time come to feel more like an extension of himself. Less a weapon of slaying, But more of a personification of his very soul given material form. At this moment however, it was none of that, it was simply _hope_.

He and Gabriel locked eyes one final time as the Daemon bore down on them. It was different this time, there was no resignation that passed between them, but a burning determination that tore through Jacks veins even as he was wrapping himself in aura. As the Daemon was atop them, digging in his heels and pushing off the balls of his feet, a battle cry tearing from his lips he lunged forward to thrust the blade towards the center of the Daemons inky black chest.

Jack was never quite sure how he figured that was the Daemons’ weak spot; but at that moment there wasn’t a shred of doubt that _that_ is where he needed to put his blade to fell the beast.

The Mantic brought its twin flaming limbs down in a cross to block the blow. Both man and Daemon struggling against the other, neither backing down. The heat in the Mantic’s arms singing Jacks own as he pushed against the creature.

As Jack felt his power flagging, Gabriel’s larger, calloused hands joined his on the handle of his blade, their shoulders knocking against each other as they both pushed with everything they had. Gabriel flaring his Aura to match Jacks.

Both faces mirroring the other’s, contorted with determination and matching roars coming from deep within their throats as their Aura twisted around one other, coiling together like twin serpents and flowing through one to other and back again, redoubling in density each time.

At that moment they lost what made them separate individuals, both feeling the iron resolve of the other that mimicked their own, their thoughts no longer separate in that moment but shared.

When they sparred in present day, they would sometimes find a semblance of what passed between them this day, but it was never the same. Never as intense or soul baring as it had been in that moment.

 Their twisting Auras passed between them one last time before surging down through the blade, that had it still been the steel blade would have likely shattered from the force. But the weapon they wielded currently felt like it was _made_ for this. Made to be a conduit for Aura.

With one last push, both emptying their stores of Mana into the attack, cracks started spider webbing out from the impact point before finally shattering in a rain of flaming hardened carapace that made up the appendage; Jacks blade sinking easily into its chest at last. With a final chittering roar the Daemon threw its insectoid head back in anguish, its whole-body convulsing as it writhed, before finally dying.

Jacks blade was already fading into ethereal glassy shards as the Mantic fell over, landing with a soft thud, and laying unmoving in the grass as its violet blood seeped out of its wound. Its glassy black eyes staring ahead unmoving.

Jack and Gabriel supported each other, holding the other up under shaky hands. Neither speaking, still too lost in shock to process what had just happened. Eventually, they faced each other, Jack searching Gabriel’s face for an explanation but finding none. Only finding Gabriel’s own confused face staring back at him, his eyebrows knitted together in a confusion that mirrored Jacks.

A Moment later Jack was clutching Gabriel’s shoulder in a white knuckled grip, the panic welling in his chest chasing out the confusion.

“Zoll.” Jack rasped. As the name fell from his lips both boys frantically started looking around for the old man.

“There!” Gabriel pointed towards a shadowy lump laying some sixty feet away.

 _‘Had the fight really pushed them so far apart?’_ Jack remembered thinking as the two limped over to him, fear and dread already bubbling inside him. Both falling to their knees next to the old warrior on opposite sides. His breathing coming out ragged and labored.

“He’s alive.” Jack whispered, clinging to that fact to calm his already frantic nerves as he checked Zoll over. Just barely being able to keep it together as he took stock of his adopted father’s injuries.

A litany of cuts and burns adorned his now bare torso. His tunic having apparently been ripped apart in his fight, what was left of it clung to his waist. Where his left eye had once been was now only a deep gash that was freely oozing blood. His right leg was bent at a sickening angle. But his left arm, that was the worse of the injuries. Down from the middle of his upper arm was nothing, it simply ended in a bloody, meaty stump, looking to have been slightly cauterized by the flames than ran the length of the Mantics blades, the saving grace that was probably the only thing keeping Zoll from bleeding out.

“H-hey, stay with us Zoll, you’re be goanna fine” Gabriel lied, propping up Zoll’s head in his lap.

Old Zoll gave a wet laugh and cringed in pain. “You’re a shite liar aren’t you Gabe?” he replied weakly, a smile that was more a grimace lining his lips. Gabriel’s head shot up, locking eyes with Jack.

“We have to get him help.” It was barely a whisper.

Once again, Jack was spectating his younger self from afar, no longer witnessing the memory play out in first person and not quite sure when the switch happened. Watching numbly as his younger self and Gabe struggled to get Zoll inside. Watched as his younger self climb into the saddle of their lone horse and shoot off towards the town, slumped in the saddle and barely clinging to consciousness himself.

Jack wasn’t sure how he had the strength to make the trip. But he did and he was thankful for it. Thankful that Zoll had a friendly rapport with the surly town physician, the only one for another hundred leagues. Thankful that Dr. Marko’s horse was faster than theirs as they sped back towards the small farm house roughly an hour later, thankful as he watched the doctor jump from the horse and rush inside. Jack watched his younger self stumble from the horse’s flank, landing in a heap before slowly standing on shaky legs to follow after, exhaustion dripping from every poor of the young Jacks body, any adrenaline his body had left long gone.

Jack remembered the desperation in his voice as he pleaded the doctor to help Zoll. Remembered slapping the doctor’s hand away from him as he went to check Jacks injuries that were all superficial compared to Zoll’s. Remembered the look on Dr. Marko’s normally stoic face as he described Zoll’s injuries in detail.

Once again, the dream grew hazy and cloudy, bleeding together weeks and days at a time. But Jack stopped paying attention, feeling far too emotionally drained to pay witness to the next few scenes. Only keenly aware of what was happening.

Then, like a stone settling at the bottom of a pond, the dream rippled and shifted again, but this time it was different. The dreamscape took on a new, although familiar setting. Jacks conscious jerked as the controls where thrusted back into his hands, no longer an observer but a player in this scripted act.

Still feeling raw from the memory of the fight with the Mantic, Jack took note of the bruised sky that hung overhead, the sun just having started dipping below the horizon, and the warm winds of summer on his cheeks as he stood bare chested in the familiar sparing pitch, his sword clutched in his hand. A familiar comfort at least.

He inhaled the sweet summer air and let the ambiance of the dreamscape settle his nerves as he took in the familiar landscape and person standing just opposite of him.

“Hello? Hey Jack, you in there man?”

Jack stayed silent, observing Gabriel in quiet contemplation. He was older now. This was the them of now, which made It hard to differentiate this from reality.

“You okay? Didn’t hit ya’ too hard did I?” Gabriel teased, smirk playing at his lips as he walked right into Jack space, hips swaying in his lazy swagger that made Jacks mind sputter as it drove all other thoughts form his head.

“No-” He rasped, voice hoarse, “No, I’m fine.” He tried again, replying on auto Pilot, voice wavering. Still distracted by everything that was _Gabe_. Eyes lingering to long on his broad chest, then his strong shoulders, and finally his full, oh so kissable lips.

Gabriel was close, everything about him drew Jack in. His soft brown eyes, the deep drawl of his voice, his musky scent that even when tinged with sweat was intoxicating. He couldn’t stop himself. The raw emotions from the fight with the Mantic’s mixing with his present day infatuation proving to much.

His blade landed in the soft grass with a dull _thunk_ as he lifted his hands to frame the sides of his best friend’s face, eyes closing as he lined their lips together in the most chaste of kisses. Tracing his finger across the scar lining Gabe left cheek, he finally pulled their lips apart and neither said a word.

While Gabriel didn’t reciprocate this kiss, he hadn’t pulled away either.

Gabriel didn’t look angry, it was worse. He wore a mask of confusion, eyes lined just barely with disgust.

Jack would have rather Gabriel slug him than look at him like that.

The ache in Jacks chest changed from a heated want to a sharp piercing stab.

“Wh-what was that for, Jack?” Gabe asked. Not moving from where he was rooted to the ground.

Jack couldn’t answer. Too lost in his own head to form the words he needed to say. To locked in his own heart to even try to play It off as a joke.

Faced with Jacks silence, Gabe’s eyebrows knitted together like they do when he’s irritated. Not the _‘where the hell are my boots’_ or _‘why do I have cook dinner again?’_ irritation but the annoyance that settled just on the cusp of full-blown anger.

“Look, whatever, just…just don’t let it happen again.” Gabe warned, jabbing his finger not so gently into Jacks chest before turning on his heel with out a second glance back strode off towards the house. The rejection clear.

Letting out a shaky sigh, heart freshly fractured, Jack let his head fall back to take in the night sky littered with stars that shone like his own personal spotlights, each illuminating his stupidity. Eyes prickling with tears that wouldn’t fall.

Eyelids as heavy as his heart, he finally closed his eyes and fell, finally, into a peaceful dreamless blackness.

Opening them what seemed a moment later, Jack was greeted now by the blurry surroundings of his and Gabriel’s room.

Jack didn’t move from where he was lying in bed, instead he focused on steadying his breathing and soothing the ache in his chest as he blinked the bleariness of sleep away.

 _‘Just a dream, it was only a dream’_ he repeated to himself like a mantra to ward off the ache in his chest. No. Not a dream, a warning. The consequence of what awaited him if he ever confessed what he felt.

Turning his head to the side, the scratchy pillow rubbing against his cheek, Jack took in the snoring Gabriel shaped lump in the bed opposite his. The first rays of dawn just breaking the horizon, casting a warmth through their eastward window.

The morning light cascaded across Gabriel’s sleeping features, a steady stream of drool coming from the corner of his mouth as he dozed. Smiling to himself, Jack cradled the fondness he felt in chest for just a moment longer before tucking it gently away in mental box before placing it somewhere in the back of his heart. His dream already fading from memory as quickly dreams so often do, but the feeling of forewarning it left him with still lingering behind like fog covering the lowlands.

The cold wooden floor met Jacks bare feet as we swung out of bed and began to quietly dress. Tugging on a somewhat fresh pair of trousers, he made a mental note that they would have to do laundry soon. Smirking to himself, already working out a way to guilt Gabriel into doing it so he didn’t get stuck with the chore himself yet again.

That however would wait until tomorrow. Today they apparently had a Daemon to hunt down and deal with. Jack stood facing the rising sun, letting its warmth wash over him, making the stripe of freckles that dotted the bridge of his nose stand out. He stood and waited for the anxiousness of the hunt to settle in his belly, but it didn’t, and at this point he knew it probably wouldn’t. Either because he was confident in his abilities, overly familiar with the act of hunting Daemons itself, or the fact that he would have Gabriel at his back no matter what came, he didn’t know. As long as the latter was true, he didn’t much care.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! =D


	3. Dreams Under a Canopy of Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys go hunting, fight some bad guys talk about feelings, and... Tickle fights?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by [HailcorePhoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HailcorePhoenix/pseuds/HailcorePhoenix)
> 
> Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Dreams Under a Canopy of Blue

 

Gabriel was pretty good at dealing with people, but to most, at first, he knew he came off as a gruff and stoic asshole with a penchant for glaring. But anyone who stuck around long enough was eventually let in on the not-so secret, secret, that he was actually, in fact, a pretty okay guy. Or at least he thought so, and so did Jack so that was that.

But he only had so much energy to _deal_ with people, and once that tank of socializing juice ran out, _that_ was when he became the dick that matched his regular resting scowl. In an effort to avoid that, Gabriel was more than happy letting Jack take the roll of people pleaser. Happy to let him fall into the ‘yes man’ roll of the village handy man while he stuck to the woods and hunted.

It wasn’t like he was leaving Jack to a cruel fate, just the opposite. See, Jack almost _thrived_ on social interaction. He was great at it; he had this natural charisma that was like an orbital pull that just pulled everyone near him into his orbit. Where interacting with people day in and day out wore on Gabriel, Jack fed off the social calls and the mundane, conversational pleasantries that accompanied them.

So being left alone to the quiet woods was just fine with him, thank you very much.

But nothing, absolutely _nothing_ was better than being secluded in the woods with no one else. No one else other than Jack, that is. Which is where Gabriel currently found himself, surrounded by the comforting foliage of his familiar hunting trail, Jack only a few steps ahead of him, making every effort to trek quietly but ultimately failing to.

Gabriel always was the stealthier of the two.

Jack’s company never wore on his nerves. Never got tired or mundane.

As different as night as day and yet existing together in an easy balance.

“Jack if you’re gonna stomp around and make all that noise I might as well just carry you on my back” Gabriel teased, even facing Jacks back he could feel the blond rolling his eyes. He wouldn’t admit it, but he loved knowing just how to get the reaction he wanted out of people. Especially Jack.

“Its not like were hunting skittish deer Gabe,” Jack called back, not bothering to whisper and dropping all pretense of stealth. “Besides, if it does hear us, it’ll probably run _towards_ us instead of away. You know, to kill us. Like Daemons _do_.”

“Well it’s a good thing you don’t know how to whisper huh? Maybe try talking a little louder? that’ll be sure to bring the Behemoth to us.” Gabriel chuffed, readjusting the strap of the pack of supplies he carried that was just about identical to Jack’s own.

“What’s the matter Mr. Casanova, thought you liked em’ loud?” Jack shot back, smirking back at Gabe over his shoulder; earning a bark of laughter from the older man. “Ya’ know, I didn’t take Quill for the type. Just goes to show you it’s always the quite ones huh?” Jack continued, causing Gabriel to bite off his laughter, embarrassment creeping up his neck.

It was easy to forget about everything when they were like this. Alone in the woods, just the two of them. Gabriel felt a little ashamed he hadn’t even spared a thought for his most recent romantic conquest, Quill the villages tanner, in the past few days that its just been him and Jack.

“I Don’t kiss and tell Jackie, you know that.” Gabe mumbled abashedly looking off to the side, refusing to meet Jacks smirking face. While Gabriel prided himself on being able to get just the reactions he wanted out of Jack, he knew damn well it was a two-way street. Only Jack could get rise to this kind of embarrassment out of him. He would have responded to anyone else from under an easy mask of cocksureness.

They carried on like this as they trekked through the woods, following the signs of the Behemoth’s passing. It wasn’t until hours later they came across something even remotely noteworthy. A shrill bird-like cry that was also _nothing_ like a bird sounded from overhead, causing their conversation to immediately cease; both stopping to face the other, their packs sliding from their shoulders simultaneously even as they flared their Auras around them, casting out their senses to locate the threat.

Both heads snapped upwards at the same time as they both locked on to the direction of the threat. With no communication, Jacks blade was already forming in his hand as he dashed towads the tree closest to him, pushing off from its base and careening dexterously upwards towards the azure canopy overhead, the specs of light it let through dancing across Jacks skin like a million little fairies. At the apex of his jump, a spike off shadows ripped out from the blue birch just to his left, using this as a foot hold, the blond pushed off it and shot off higher before disappearing into the sparse overhead foliage.

Gabe watched Jack shoot past the tree line from where he stood on the forest floor. Just a moment later his friend was landing in a crouch not far from him, his blade held carefully away from him as it dripped with purplish blood. Another moment after that, two halves of a Daemon landed behind Jack with a sickening squelching sound.

“Thanks for the assist” Jack called, bright blue eyes crinkling around the edges in a smile as Gabriel strode towards him, the two bumping the backs of their fists, an easy, familiar gesture.

“No problem sunshine. That the only one?” Gabriel asked, jerking his chin to where the Spa’Harrow had landed among the decomposing blue foliage of the forest floor. Its ugly rodent face dotted with four unblinking eyes staring back. Moving the corpse with his foot, Gabriel took in its horrific form. Two sets of wings jutted out from its muscular torso, it’s too short arms and legs hung limply against the ground.

“Yeah that was it, which is weird since don’t they normally hunt in groups of three?” Jack replied, before following Gabe over and using the tip of his blade to roll over the other half of the Daemons corpse. “Look, right here, it looks like it was already injured before I got to it.” Gabriel watched as Jack pointed out a small hole in the creature’s side, before returning his attention to the half he was overserving.

“There’s another on the opposite side too. An exit wound?” Gabriel wondered, pointing out an almost identical wound. What would cause a hole so small? Definitely not an arrow, the injury was too small around to have been caused by an arrowhead or cross bow bolt. The exit too messy to have been caused with magic to match the caliber of the injuries size. The injury wasn’t enough to kill it, a warning shot? He couldn’t be sure.

“Think it could have something to do with the other pair of tracks you found? The human ones?” The blond asked, his blade fading into ethereal light that speckled the surrounding tree in a soft refracted light.

Gabriel grunted in response, straightening up. “No way to know. Lets just keep moving yeah? Still got more ground to cover.”

Leaving the dead Spa’Harrow where it was, the two continued westward following the large tracks of the Behemoth. No point in salvaging the meat from the slain Daemon as it was completely inedible and toxic to the average human. Even animals knew the steer clear of their corpses.

As evening was fast approaching the two came finally came across it. Not the Behemoth they were tracking, no. But something neither could make heads of tails of from where they stood at the edge of a clearing, still shadowed by the tree line, the base of the Klein mountain range visible on the other side of the clearing.

“What do you think it is?” Jack asked, crouched down on Gabriel’s right, their shoulders just barely brushing against one another.

“Dunno, pretty sure it’s magical though.” Gabriel replied, his voice a hushed mumble as his gaze was focused straight ahead at what the two were looking at from what they assumed was a safe distance.

“Wow, who’d have guessed that the large pulsating purple stone in the middle of a creepy ass animal graveyard was magical? You’re a damn prodigy Gabriel.” Jack finished with a roll of his eyes.

“You don’t know, could be poisonous jackass” he bit back.

“Don’t think so, look” Jack said pointing at the almost perfect ring of corpses made up of squirrels, chipmunks, birds, a few deer and a handful other forest animals that encircled the roughly six foot high, five feet across jagged obsidian stone that jutted up from the earth at the center of the clearing, the eerie purple pulsing glow at its center casting shadows around the clearing that seemed to dance in time with an unheard melody. “If it was poisonous, I think the corpses would have died a little bit more spread out and random not in a perfect circle a few feet around whatever the hell that is.”

“Well if you’re so sure why don’t you go get a closer look wise guy” Gabriel followed up. “If you start chocking on your own spit and coughing up blood well know its poisonous, if you burst into flames then its magical.” He said matter-of-factly.

“What? No! Why’s it gotta be me?” Jack complained, doing that pouty thing he does that just made Gabriel want to push his buttons even more.

“C’mon, don’t be a puss. What, you scared?”

“I mean yeah, kind of partial to not bursting into a flaming ball or chocking to death on poison.”

With a vicious eye roll, Gabriel went to stand up and step from their cover behind the tree line. “Fine, _Ill_ go check it out and find out what its deal is.”

Before he could get more than a step Jack caught his wrist. “Hell no, don’t be an Idiot Gabe, you could die!” The blonde protested; eyebrows scrunched together in a frown. The concern marking his face so adorable and just so _Jack_ that it made Gabriel’s inside do flips.

“Aw, worried about me Jackie?”

“Well, yeah Gabe, plus, I don’t want to have to be the one to haul your big ass corpse back home.” Jack replied, eyes darting to the side, frustration taking the place of his earlier concern.

Before their banter could continue, the air suddenly took on a metallic taste and felt charged suddenly, in a way that made Gabriel’s hair stand on end. Without speaking, both him Jack leaped backwards putting more distance between them and the obsidian stone, their weapons already manifesting in their hands. Both men stood stock still as they watched the clearing.

They stood with wide eyes in a stunned silence as they watched arcs of violet electricity jump off the stone. Each arc striking one of the corpses encircling it. each corpse that was struck was yanked off the ground by invisible strings before twisting and convulsing in on itself like a possessed marionette, suspended a few feet from the ground.

To his right Gabriel heard Jack hiss in a startled gasp from between closed teeth as he watched the same scene unfold. Unable to tear his gaze away, Gabriel watched in mute horror as the corpse of what looked like what was a deer at one point, started to shift in size and shape, its skin crawling just below its now pitch-black fur. Extra appendages springing from its back, electric green froth dripping from his maw as it landed once again, not far from the obsidian stone occupying the center of the clearing.

“It’s _making_ Daemons.” Jack whispered, his voice quivering ever so slightly; not in fear, no, they’d fought more than enough Daemons that the fear of a few more was lost on them. No, Gabriel heard it for what it was, as it mirrored exactly what he was feeling himself. Awe.

For the first time they were witnessing exactly how Daemons came into existence on this side of the border. For the first time they gained some slight insight into the foes they’ve occupied their time hunting.

“We gotta destroy it”

“We have to destroy it”

Both men glanced at the other, twin smirks playing across their lips as they both crouched low to the ground. Two perfect coils of raw energy just waiting to burst forth to cut down their foes, Mana rolling off their bodies, staining the air with _them_ and announcing their presence to the newly formed Daemons.

The new deer Daemons, Daermons? Him and Jack would spitball names for them later, Jack was shite at naming, so it would be up to him to bestow a fitting name to this new foe. The three _Daermons_ all snapped to attention, their cold, dead eyes now focused on where he and Jack squatted amongst the foliage, their cover blown, both men shot out like arrows on Aura infused legs, Jacks blade coming down into the crown of the first Daemon, splitting its head in halves down to the nape of its neck.

Gabriel, a wraith among the shadows, glided past Jack and the first enemy and towards the two flanking it in a ‘Y’ formation, making sure to stay plenty clear of the obsidian stone, still hesitant to try his luck with clearing the corpse ring still outlining it.

Spinning on his heel, his scimitars cut jagged streaks down both the Daemons sides all the way to their flanks.

“Gabe, in their necks!” He heard Jack call from behind him, followed by a string of curses.

_Shit._ What he thought were the two Daermon’s sides stitched back together at terrifying speeds, both angling their heads towards him, the one to his right, leaping to try and latch onto him in a bite. While the sides of the other’s mouth split open down the sides of its maw, a barbed tongue darting out like whip to strike at his head.

With a flick of his wrist, He launched one of his blades into the oncoming tongue whip, before spinning on his toes, body horizontal to the ground as he brought his remaining scimitar up into where the neck meets torso of the other charging Daermon.

He felt his blade sink into that familiar organ that signaled a Daemons weak spot. The only place that could be struck that would render a Daemon really and truly dead. The annoying part being that it was different in every species of Daemon, the neck not always being a kill spot.

It’s a good thing his partner has a knack for finding the kill spot quickly.

Yanking his fist upwards, a spike of hardened shadows shot up from the earth and tore into the neck of the remaining Dearmon, piercing the center of its kill zone with seemingly practiced ease.

Taking a moment, He took in his slain foes, the scimitar he threw previously still embedded in the crown of the Daermon laying off to the side. Jacks own foe laying still on the ground at his feet, the blond free of injury save for a small tear in the shoulder of his tunic, the culprit of his previous string of curses.

“So, all that’s left is this…thing. Any ideas on what we should do with it?” He asked, yanking his blade free of the Daermons skull.

“Destroy it probably. We just watched it create three Daemons, can’t very well leave it alone can we.” Came Jack’s reply, his focus solely on the Daemon spawning stone.

Nodding in affirmation, Gabriel took a few steps towards the stone, stopping just shy of the encircling ring of animal corpses, their stench stinging his sinuses and making his eyes water. “Don’t wanna get too close so here’s hoping this works.” He mumbled more to himself but knowing Jacks heightened hearing would pick up on it as well.

Dipping into his Mana and reaching out towards the obsidian stone at the center the clearing, the shadows that clung to him dove to the ground and crawled along forest floor before coming to a halt just shy of the rock. With a sharp flick of his wrists, his middle and index finger pointing skyward, several lances of hardened shadows shot up and embedded themselves into the obsidian stone. For a moment nothing happened, but then slowly the pulsating purple light at the center flickered and went out as the monolith started to fracture and crumble to the ground in a heap of rubble.

Exhaling a sigh at his exertion, Gabriel straightened and turned towards Jack who had a lopsided pout plastered on his lips and envy dancing in his eyes.

“I still don’t think its fair.” The blond stated all matter-of-factly, with just a hint of petulance.

“You get Aura _and_ Shadow magic?” he continued when Gabriel didn’t respond and instead replied with a roll of his eyes as he strode past Jack and his envy.

“Everyone has Aura, Jack. You know that.” Gabe volleyed back, both men exiting the clearing, and unspoken agreement that it was time to head home. The original target of their hunt having eluded them and neither wanting to spend anymore time in this pseudo -animal graveyard and getting closer to the rubble at the center was also a no-go as neither of them knew exactly what caused the deaths of the animals in the first place. Better to just not risk it.

“You know what I mean Gabe. I’m just saying, it’s pretty unfair that you get _both_.” Gabe couldn’t hold back his irritated sigh, Jack’s tone giving away that he was digging at something else and not just noting the unfairness in their ability distribution.  Sure, his envy was sincere, but they’ve done this dance enough times that Gabe knew that wasn’t Jack’s endgame.

“Just spit it out Jack, what’re you getting at?”

“Look, all I’m saying is that what with you winning the lottery in terms of magic, you could be the bigger man and take care of the laundry when we get back home, yeah?” Gabriel could _hear_ the smirk in Jacks voice.

“Nuh-uh, absolutely not Jack. Damnit, I did it last time, it’s your tu-“ Gabriel started, turning towards Jack who was now standing much closer than need be, leaning into Gabe’s space with a smug grin.

“I found their kill spot first.”

“Yeah, well I took down two”

“I made breakfast.”

“ _I_ destroyed the damn Daemon spawning thing!”

“I made breakfast, _the last four mornings in a row_.”

Silence hung over the two as they engaged in stare down that consisted of Jacks smug-ass grin versus his withering scowl that worked on everyone _except_ Jack. Both far too stubborn to backdown in even the pettiest of instances.

“Three” Gabriel started, putting up a fist into the empty space between them.

“Two” a mischievous glint dancing behind Jacks eyes as he rose a fist opposite of Gabriel’s own.

“One!” they finished in unison.

“Damnit!” Gabriel roared; his fist still curled together while being faced with Jack‘s flat palm. spinning on his heel and stomping off in the direction of home. Determined to put as much distance between himself and Jack’s cocky laughter that was filling the air behind him.

“C’mon Gabe, you _always_ pick paper. Of course I was gonna win…again.”

“Yeah yeah, keep acting real smug asshole, don’t blame me if the collars of your shirts are stretched out…again.” He bit back, silencing Jacks laughter.

“Don’t you dare Gabriel or so help me I _will_ dump snow on you while your asleep once winter is really here.”

Both continuing on in the same manner as they trekked through the forest, the sky overheard obscured by the azure foliage the swayed overhead. This hunt, having taken them further into the forest than they’ve traveled before, forced them to make a camp once they were well away from the Daemon stone as the sky started darkening, making traveling through the forest much harder.

They decided they were far enough away once the air felt lighter and the sound of wildlife once again picked up in the background.

 

*

Camping was great. Hunting as much as Gabriel did had given him plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Enjoy the gentle forest ambiance, the easy solitude and peaceful self-reflection.

Camping alone, however? That kind of sucked.

So, whenever Jack tagged along on these longer hunts Gabriel was over the fuckin’ moon.

From where Gabe was sitting, on an uncomfortable log, staring from the opposite side of their campfire, Jack also looked like he enjoyed it. If that easy grin he was wearing as he stared absently into their campfire was anything to go by. Their dinner of dried meats, stale bread and cheese resting comfortably in their bellies.

But of course, Gabriel’s peace wouldn’t last because eventually the hot blond sharing his space eventually opened his big beautiful mouth to spout some utter nonsense.

“You sure you don’t want to come with me?” Jack mumbled, eyes not looking up from the fire, his mouth forming a thin line like it does whenever he’s anxious.

“C’mon Jack, let’s not do this again.” He replied softly, reaching down to stoke the fire, hoping beyond hope to brush past this topic before either could really get latched onto it. A sore spot for them both. Which wasn’t fair, because it wasn’t Gabriel that was up and leaving to chase some dream that would take him to the capital. It was Jack.

Which was fine, he was an adult for fucks sake.

Except it _wasn’t_ fine. Gabriel didn’t _want_ Jack to leave. But he had absolutely no desire to travel to the capital and had done everything he could possibly do to try and prevent Jack from wanting to do the same.

It was better if they both gave that place a wide berth.

But letting things go wasn’t in Jack’s list of skills.

“I just think you could get a lot out of it Gabe, just think about it.”

“I _have,_ Jack. I don’t want to be some pompous stick-up-my-ass knight who comes running every time some noble needs their ass wiped. Pass.”

“You used to.” Jack mumbled, doing that kicked puppy thing with eyes, looking to the side all dejected.

Gabriel let out a huff of air and stood and turned away from the fire, walking a few steps away before crossing his arms and refusing to look back at Jack. “Yeah, I did. And then I grew up. There’s nothing but trouble in the capital for people like us Jack. Neither of us grew up with a silver spoon in our mouths and they’d all make damn sure we didn’t forget it. Yeah, no thanks.”

“Gabe if we were Knights, I’m talking about _real_ Knights, we wouldn’t even be in the capital for long periods of time. We could be out traveling, helping people. No more farming and living off shitty stale bread!” Jack replied evenly; this pitch practiced. But this wasn’t the first time they had done _this_ dance either.

Years ago, not all that long before Zoll passed away, a group of traveling troubadours had come through Rhuldt. It wasn’t a surprise; they’d come through every year like clockwork. Accompanied by their families and their colorful patchwork wagons. Selling wine and sweets from other lands and villages. Whenever they came through it always prompted a small festival of dancing, drinking and music that lasted as long as they stayed.

It was there that Jack got the vain idea of Knighthood stuck in his head. Learning about it from some storyteller weaving a tale of heroics that took root in Jack’s head and refused to let go.

It was a known fact that Knights, Soldiers who commanded Aura like Gabriel and Jack, that worked for the crown to keep the realm safe. But it was this storyteller that wove it into such a tale of heroics instead of a series of grueling tasks, that made Jack want to take up the mantel of knight and leave for the capital.

Only Zoll’s untimely passing preventing him from leaving.

Gabriel didn’t have to turn around to know that Jack had also stood up. That he had that excited glint in his eye whenever he talked about becoming a knight and traveling around the kingdom playing hero. Fighting the bad guys.

The capital was just no place for him. No place for Jack either.

Sure, farming sucked and they didn’t have it easy. But they had enough, and they had each other. It just sucked that that didn’t seem to be enough for Jack. He wanted to be the hero and he wanted Gabriel to come with him, which sure, did stupid things to Gabriel’s heart, like making him want to drop his stance and give the blond exactly what he wanted.

But he promised Zoll.

“No, Jack. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to go around playing hero with you.” - A Lie-  “I’m _happy_ with my life,” -another lie- “and you should be too. There’s no reason to go running around with that fucking hero complex of yours. You’re going to wind up in deeper shit than you can get yourself out of!” Not a lie.

“That’s why I want you to come with me. I need you watching my back.”

Wow. Okay, low blow Jack.

“Then just stay here! Don’t go traipsing around in a world yo- _we_ don’t know anything about!” he shouted, swinging his arm out for emphasis and he turned around to meet Jack’s resolute, almost pleading look.

Sighing, he reached up to massage the bridge of his nose.

“Look, Jack, can we table this? We have all winter to bitch about this back and forth before you leave in the summer. Can we – shit, can we just not talk about this right now? Please?” This conversation had to end, _now_. Jack was dangerously close to getting what he wanted, and Gabriel only had so much willpower to resist him.

Jack stared at him a little longer. Another point already on the tip of his tongue, mouth already half open and in the process of forming his next word, before letting it go with a deflated sigh and retaking his seat on his own uncomfortable log. “Yeah, okay.” He mumbled, once again staring into the fire, this time wearing a look of uncertainty.

The silence that settled over them, now strained, its previous ease forcibly removed by the argument, was suffocating.

If this is how this conversation was going to go each time, Gabriel apparently didn’t have a fart’s chance to talk Jack out of this. Which did not bode well for him.

Once the moon had firmly established its place as the sun’s replacement overhead, Jack decided it was time for bed, rolling out his bed roll wordlessly before flopping down, laying on his side with his back to Gabriel.

Which left Gabriel sitting alone by the fire, still stewing. There hasn’t been a Daemon big enough to warrant both of their attention in _weeks_ , and Jack had to go and ruin it by starting some halfcocked argument that did _nothing_ but put them both in shitty moods. Well that just wasn’t going to fly. No sir.

Gabriel dragged his best friend out into the woods so they could have fun just hanging out. Hunting the monsters of other people’s nightmares. Shoot the shit, and just fucking _exist_ near each other without having to worry about the damn farm for a few days.

If Jack was going to act like brat, then fine. Gabe could play ball.

Standing, Gabriel walked over to where Jack was pretending, badly he might add, to be asleep; before rolling out his own bed roll unnecessarily close to Jacks own, and plopping down noisily, making sure his elbow lightly caught Jack on the back. Not hard enough to hurt, but just enough so the other man was keenly aware how violated his personal space was. Just close enough to be annoying without outright spooning him.

The blond let out an annoyed huff.

_‘Point to me_ ’ the older man thought with a smirk.

Gabriel let some time pass, just laying on his side facing Jacks back. Breathing noisily through his nose to further irritate his partner. Which, if Jacks tensed up shoulders were anything to go off, was a rousing success.

“Jack”

Silence.

“Jack”

Continued silence.

“Hey Jack. You awake?”

“ _What_ Gabriel?” The blond all but hissed out through gritted teeth.

“Whatcha’ thinking about?” Gabe almost couldn’t keep his shoulders from shaking with laughter, tongue sticking in between his teeth as he bit down on it to keep from chuckling. Pushing Jacks buttons, while stupidly easy, was fun as fuck. _Especially_ when Jack was being an ass.

“Gabriel.” Jack warned, his voice almost a growl.

He was using Gabe’s full name. Good.

Using every ounce of stealth a man could have at this close of a range from his target, Gabriel leaned in, just behind Jacks ear while holding his breath before whispering, “ _You still ticklish_?”

Jack tensed up and started the move, but not before Gabe dug his fingers into the sensitive spots on Jacks sides. The former throwing his head back as roar of laughter forcibly erupted from deep within his belly. The blond struggling to dislodge him to no avail, his coordination suffering from his continued laughter.

“I. Said. Fucking. _Stop_.” Jack ground out between fits of laughter before finally cocking his head and slamming the back of it against Gabriel’s nose, causing the older man to yelp in pain and finally let go to clutch his nose.

Gabriel could feel the warmth of blood dripping from it, which in his opinion was a small price to pay to pull Jack out of his own head.

Both men sat there on the ground, their bed rolls a sprawled-out mess between them, staring at one another. Gabriel cradling his bleeding nose, a rakish smile spread across his face. Jack sitting across from him, face flushed and shoulders rising and falling as he gulped in air, a fist raised next to his head to ward off any other attacks from Gabriel that might come his way.

Both sat like that for a few moments before erupting into fits of laughter. This time in no way forced.

Some time later, after Gabriel cleaned up his nose, they both ended back up on their respective bedrolls just as close as they had been before. Their previous conversation not quite forgotten but pushed far enough away that it no longer bothered them for the moment.

Here they laid, surrounded by trees of blue on all sides, the soft forest floor beneath them, the lite forest ambiance offering a comfortable cacophony of noises that would lull them to sleep. Gabriel faced the dwindling campfire, his back now facing Jack’s, almost but not quite touching. He listened to Jack’s shallow and even breathing, his sleep no longer feigned, which left Gabriel alone with his thoughts.

He still had absolutely no idea how he was going to talk Jack out of going to the capital. All he knew was that he absolutely _had_ too. It wasn’t safe for him there. It wasn’t safe for _either_ of them there.

It was fine. He had months to figure out a way to sway Jack’s mind. If he had to offer to go traveling with him from village to village, freelancing their skills to kill troublesome Daemons or something similar in order to deal with Jack’s hero complex? So be it. They could make it work. Whatever it took to keep Jack out of the capital.

Gabriel had no way of knowing just how wrong he was, and that events were transpiring out of his control, hurtling towards them at a breakneck pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I had the most fun writing this chapter so far :D
> 
> I cant tell you how much comments and Kudo's mean to me to receive. waking up to a gmail notification with the header "[Account name] commented on your work" or receiving emails alerting me to new kudos is honestly just the best feeling. Anyone who's commented or Kudo'd on the past chapters as well as anyone who may do so on this and future chapters, thank you so much! you've been a huge part in keeping the inspiration flowing and I treasure you <3


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